Shades of Grey
by TitansRule
Summary: One year after Apocalypse, Lance disappeared when the rest of the Brotherhood joined SHIELD. Five years later, Kitty's left the X-Men, trying to land her dream job in Manhattan, when she runs into a familiar face. Not connected to any of my other stories.


**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. To the best of my knowledge, Marco's Diner belongs to me, but I've never been to New York, so I may be wrong.**

**Continuity: This s****tory is, in no way, connected to my 'All's Fair' universe, other than the fact that two years passed between the X-Men being exposed as mutants at the end of Season 2 and the fight with Apocalypse at the end of Season 4.**

**AN: This is an old cliche, but I thought I'd have a play with it. There is a meaning behind the title, but whether I write it or not depends on reader response. I have a multi-chap planned for this, but this is really not the best time to start a new story, so I will leave it as a oneshot if no one appears to be reading it. *smiles innocently and pretends that didn't sound like blackmail*  
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><p>Marco's Diner was a small family-run establishment in downtown Manhattan, where all the regulars knew each other by name, rather like the <em>Cheers<em> bar, but with no alcohol.

It was close to Kitty's apartment and her work, which made it the perfect choice for lunch, so that's where she was one Tuesday afternoon, settled in one of the booths with a cup of coffee, a sandwich and a newspaper.

Much had changed since the fight with Apocalypse. Most of the X-Men remained at the mansion, or at least nearby, but Kitty wasn't one of them.

She still spoke with many of her former team-mates on a regular basis, and if the X-Men were needed, she answered the call, but it just wasn't her life anymore.

Six years had passed since Apocalypse had been defeated, five since she moved out and her life hadn't changed at all.

Now, that wasn't a bad thing, just because everyone else's changed around her. She lived relatively comfortably, had a job she enjoyed – even if it wasn't exactly what she wanted to do – and she was still single (which wasn't necessarily a good thing, but didn't really bother her).

She finished her sandwich and balled up the wrapper, before running an eye over the sports page. She didn't pay attention to sports as a rule, but Bobby had a habit of phoning her every Wednesday night and it was nice for them to have something to talk about other than her job and his girlfriend.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?"

"No, go ahead." Kitty said, folding the paper up. "I'm nearly …" She trailed off as she looked up, meeting the gaze of a man slightly older than her.

He looked to be at least a head taller than her if she stood up, with dark brown hair that fell into his face with a kind of casual grace that could never have been faked. He had an air of 'don't really care' about him, but it just added to his darkly handsome features, his shirt bulging with muscle, but not obscenely so.

But it was his eyes that caught her attention, because through everything, his eyes hadn't changed and it made her breath catch slightly with recognition. "Lance?"

Her voice seemed to wake him out of his own shock. "Kitty … Wow … Fancy seeing you here. Do you mind if I …?"

"No, go ahead." Kitty told him, setting the paper to one side. "It's … It's been a long time."

"It has." Lance agreed, settling into the bench opposite her. "How are you?"

Kitty shrugged. "Can't complain really. Then again, I'm not the one that disappeared without a trace."

Lance smirked. "And it only took everyone a week to realise. I'm a little hurt."

Kitty turned slightly pink. "Well, we thought you were with the Brotherhood. They thought you were with _us_ …"

Lance nodded as an awkward silence threatened to engulf them. Kitty recognised it as well and said quickly, "I was worried, you know. When you just vanished like that."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Huh. And here I thought you didn't give a damn about me."

There was no fight in his voice and she dropped her gaze, fiddling with the cardboard tube around her coffee. "Well, I did. I do." She corrected quietly. She took a deep breath, and finally said what she'd meant to say almost eight years ago. "I'm sorry."

His gaze had wandered to the window and the busy street outside, but it slid back to her. "Sorry for what?"

"For what I said that day in the school parking lot." Kitty said slowly. If she didn't pay close attention to the speed of her words, she felt they would come tumbling out in an unintelligible mess. "I don't have an excuse for it. Just that I was frustrated and angry and …"

"It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back." He finished for her.

Kitty nodded, looking faintly embarrassed. "I wanted to take the words back straight away, but …" She trailed off with a sigh.

"Why didn't you call?" Lance asked.

"Why didn't you?" Kitty responded.

"Well, you were the one who was mad at _me_." Lance reminded her. "And I know what your temper's like. I figured that if you wanted to talk to me again, you would."

Kitty tightened her grip on her coffee slightly, in the hope that it would disguise the fact that her hands were shaking. "I was scared."

"Scared?" Lance repeated, sounding confused. "Since when do I scare you?"

Kitty managed a small smile. "Since I wasn't sure if you hated me or not. What I said … it was the cheap shot of cheap shots, Lance, I know that. I wouldn't have blamed you for hating me for it. Thing is, I'd rather _think_ you hated me than confront the situation and confirm it. And the X-Men weren't helping matters."

"Do they ever?" Lance muttered.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Not when it comes to us, no."

Her words triggered another awkward silence. There hadn't been an 'us' or a 'we' between the two of them for eight years, not since the end of their rather tumultuous relationship.

After that, Kitty had endured two years of 'I told you so' from her team-mates, aside from Rogue, who had dutifully comforted her in the aftermath, and reassured her that, no, she hadn't been crazy, that maybe it just wasn't their time yet.

After Apocalypse, she had really thought they would patch things up.

But her fear had still controlled her and, after a year, the Brotherhood had joined SHIELD, in a move than no one had predicted, but actually made sense once they thought about it.

In fact, until Kitty had run into Pietro a week later, she had assumed Lance was with them. When she realised he wasn't … She hadn't been lying earlier when she said she'd been worried.

Kitty took drained her coffee, seeing him gazing at her. "What?"

Lance shrugged. "Nothing." He took a swig of his own coffee. "You're just as beautiful as I remember."

Kitty felt her face heat up. "Lance Alvers, are you flirting with me?"

Lance smirked at her over his cup. "Maybe. Don't you ever wonder what would have happened if our friends hadn't got involved?"

"All the time." Kitty admitted quietly. "But it's too late now."

"Says who?" Lance asked.

It was a good question and Kitty smiled slightly. "Sorry. Forgot the X-Men aren't pulling my strings anymore."

"You admit to the strings now then?" Lance grinned.

Kitty chuckled. "Phased out of them years ago." She chanced a glance at the clock and sighed. "I have to get back to work."

Their hands were just inches apart now and he closed the distance between them. "Let me take you to dinner tonight."

"Are you asking me on a second first date?" Kitty asked softly, her eyes drawn to their joined hands.

Lance nodded. "Let's see if it's more successful now those strings are gone."

Part of her wanted to say no, reminding her of those nights she had cried herself to sleep, of the disastrous evenings they had spent together.

But that part was swiftly silenced as she remembered that those disasters had been caused by their 'friends', determined that they shouldn't be happy, at least not together. She remembered the way her heart skipped a beat when he took her hand, the way he looked at her like she was the only girl in the world, the way he made her feel …

And there was no way she could ignore that she was still _very_ much attracted to him.

"Sure." She retrieved a pen from her bag and scribbled her address on a notepad, tearing it off for him.

"I'll pick you up at seven." Lance said as she stood up.

Kitty couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. "Okay." She slipped her bag over her shoulder, hesitated, then bent to kiss him on the cheek. "See you later."

"See you."

Kitty didn't turn back as she left the diner, but she was still very aware of his eyes following her as she left. Out on the street, she exhaled slowly as the cool rain caressed her face.

Had she really just agreed to restart a relationship with her ex-boyfriend?

_You broke up for a reason, you know._

Kitty scowled at the voice, which sounded annoyingly like Jean, like Jean at her smuggest. _Shut up. It's your fault we broke up in the first place._

There was no response, which wasn't surprising, since the voice was a figment of her imagination and _not_ really her former team-mate.

But that still left her wondering whether she was doing the right thing.

_Well … there's only one way to find out._


End file.
